25 March 2024
In 2023, Belgium registered 8,8% fewer first-time asylum applicants than in 2022, that is to say, 29.260 in 2023 compared to 32.100 in 2022. On the contrary, the number of first-time asylum applicants registered in the whole EU in 2023 reached 1.048.880, which represents an increase of 20.1 % compared to 2022.
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Main Theme: Data & Statistics
Keywords: first-time asylum applicant, Eurostat
20 March 2024
As labour and skills shortages have been increasing and are expected to continue rising over the coming decades in all EU Member States, the European Commission published an action plan setting out key measures that the EU, Member States and social partners should take in the short to medium term to address this challenge.
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Main Theme: Economic migration
Keywords: labour shortage, skills shortage, social partner, labour market integration, skills development, intra EU mobility, talent partnership
18 March 2024
On 18 March 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) and the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) co-organized a conference during which participants reiterated the need for greater convergence between Member States to achieve a fair and efficient asylum system.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: convergence, asylum practices, Common European Asylum System, New Pact on Migration and Asylum
17 March 2024
In a joint Declaration signed in Cairo on 17 March 2024, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the European Union agreed to elevate their relationship to the level of a strategic and comprehensive partnership. The document identifies specific areas of cooperation, including migration and mobility.
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Main Theme: External Dimension
Keywords: partnership, Egypt, migration governance
13 March 2024
At a meeting of the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER), Member States agreed their position on a draft regulation which updates a mechanism that allows the EU to suspend visa-free travel for third countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa obligation when travelling to the Schengen area.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: visa-free travel, suspension mechanism
11 March 2024
According to the provisional monthly results of the statistics on changes of nationality, 3.885 persons obtained the Belgian nationality in December 2023. This raises the total figure for 2023 to 54.813 persons who obtained the Belgian nationality.
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Main Theme: Citizenship & Nationality
Keywords: acquisition of citizenship, Belgian nationality
07 March 2024
Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson together with the Mauritanian Minister of Interior and Decentralisation, Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine, have signed a Joint Declaration launching an EU-Mauritania migration partnership. Both parties will hold a dialogue on a regular basis to implement this Joint Declaration.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: migration dialogue, Migration Partnership
06 March 2024
According to data collected by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, 2023, with at least 8565 deaths and disappearances, is the deadliest year since the project's inception in 2014. IOM highlights the urgent need for action to prevent further loss of life.
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Main Theme: Irregular Migration
Keywords: migration route, migrant death, Mediterranean
01 March 2024
Today, the Belgian Presidency of the Council and European Parliament negotiators have provisionally agreed on two regulations that govern the collection and use of air passenger data for border management and law enforcement.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: advanced passenger information, border management
29 February 2024
In a judgement released today in case C-222/22, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that the Qualification Directive does not permit a presumption that any subsequent application based on circumstances which the applicant has created by his or her own decision since leaving the country of origin stems from abusive intent and abuse of the procedure for the grant of international protection. Any subsequent application must be assessed on an individual basis.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: qualification directive, subsequent application, refugee, abusive intent, religious conversion
28 February 2024
On 28 February 2024 the European Ombudsman published a press release regarding the completion of its inquiry about the Adriana shipwreck in June 2023, which also included recommendations regarding broader systemic issues. The Ombudsman called on EU legislators to address fundamental rights gaps and to establish an independent commission of inquiry to assess the reasons for the large numbers of deaths in the Mediterranean.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: Mediterranean, shipwreck, fundamental rights, search and rescue
28 February 2024
A strategic analysis by the European Agency for Asylum (EUAA), reveals that in 2023, 1.14 million applications for international protection were lodged in the EU+ countries (i.e. the 27 European Union Member States, plus Norway and Switzerland), marking the highest level in seven years. The analysis sheds light on the trends that were observed in 2023.
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Main Theme: Asylum
Keywords: EUAA, application for international protection, temporary protection
21 February 2024
A large-scale operation involving law enforcement and judicial authorities from Belgium, France and Germany, coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, led to the dismantling of one of the most active networks involved in the smuggling of migrants across the English Channel in small boats.
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Main Theme: Smuggling & Trafficking
Keywords: migrant smuggling, English channel, Europol, Eurojust, joint action day
19 February 2024
Of the 14.779 Ukrainian refugees registered with the VDAB, 45 percent (6.599) have already worked and 27 percent (4.045) are still working. Some argue that more should be done to guide them into work, inter alia encouraging language learning in the workplace.
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Main Theme: Integration
Keywords: Ukraine, employment rate, labour market access, language barrier
15 February 2024
Given the strong pressure on the Belgian reception system, Fedasil created more than 3.000 places in 2023. Despite these efforts, Fedasil ran out of places to accommodate all applicants for international protection last year.
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Main Theme: Reception
Keywords: reception centre, reception crisis, reception capacity
14 February 2024
Today, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs (LIBE) approved the inter-institutional agreement achieved in December with the Council on the Migration and Asylum Pact.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: New Pact on Migration and Asylum
13 February 2024
The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration announced today that a new software was in the process of being developed with the digital product studio "In the pocket" to better manage information relating to the stay of third-country nationals in closed centres.
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Main Theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: closed centre, digitalisation
13 February 2024
In its pushback report 2023 published today, the human rights organisation 11.11.11. says there were 346.004 illegal pushbacks of people migrating to Europe in 2023 - that is 947 every day. The organisation used information provided by NGOs, human rights bodies and UN agencies to report this figure.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: external border, pushback, human rights
12 February 2024
According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 4.489 persons obtained Belgian nationality in November 2023. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in November are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Turkey.
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Main Theme: Citizenship & Nationality
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
09 February 2024
On the proposal of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, the Council of Ministers agreed today to the conclusion of a rental contract for land in Lodelinsart (Charleroi). Fedasil will make the site available to the Belgian Red Cross to place containers in order to increase the reception capacity for applicants for international protection.
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Main Theme: Reception
Keywords: reception capacity, reception centre, container
08 February 2024
Today, EU Member States’ representatives meeting in the Coreper approved key laws which will reform the EU’s asylum and migration system. The EU laws of the Pact touch upon all stages of asylum and migration management.
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Main Theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: New Pact on Migration and Asylum
06 February 2024
The Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU and European Parliament negotiators today reached a provisional deal on amending the Schengen Borders Code. The update in particular clears up rules related to the reintroduction of border controls and offers solutions to situations where migrants are instrumentalised.
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Main Theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: Schengen, Schengen borders code, migration instrumentalization, border control
05 February 2024
The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) announced today that it would resume the processing of Sudanese cases from Darfur, Kordofan, Blue Nile and Khartoum as of 26 February 2024.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: Sudan, application for international protection, individual need for protection
02 February 2024
In 2023, 287 refugees were resettled in Belgium, including 154 Congolese from Rwanda, 81 Syrians from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, and 26 Sudanese, 18 Ethiopians and 8 Eritreans from Egypt.
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Main Theme: International Protection
Keywords: resettled refugee, resettlement, community sponsorship
01 February 2024
The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration announced today that applications from nationalities that have very little chance of obtaining international protection, in particular Congolese, Moldovans and Georgians, will be processed in a fast-track procedure from 1 February.